Diving board extender



June 30, 1970 H. W. SAMPSON, JR

DIVING BOARD EXTENDER Filed Aug. 1, 1968 FIG. 3 a

' INVENTOR. HARVEY W. SAMPSON JR ATTORNEY.

United States Patent M 3,517,929 DIVING BOARD EXTENDER Harvey W. Sampson, Jr., 100 Grand Canal Drive, Miami, Fla. 33133 Filed Aug. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 749,537 Int. Cl. A63]: 5/10 US. Cl. 272-66 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An auxiliary horizontally disposed adjustable board, which may be mounted above the conventional fuldrum mounted diving board and may be readily adjusted by a parallelogram linkage to various positions lengthwise of the conventional board and to various vertical positions relative to the conventional board. This adjustment in effect produces a variation in the length or height of the conventional diving board.

The main or conventional diving board structure in general use with swimming pools is fixed or anchored, at one end, to the outer side, generally concrete, of the swimming pool, a fulcrum is usually provided beyond which the board is cantilevered, and upon which the conventional board rests and projects out over the edge of the swimming pool. The adjustable auxiliary board, of this invention is designed to be removably mounted by any suitable means or in any suitable manner, above said regular board and to perform its desired function in cooperation with said regular board.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide an auxiliary board, which is removeably assembled above and in operative position in a functional relationship with the main or conventional board, whereby to extend said auxiliary board further outwardly over the edge of the swimming pool, than the conventional board, said novel assembly means also permitting the raising or lowering of said extender board to position it in any of a series of horizontal planes above the top side of the conventional board.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel arrangement of components for mounting the auxiliary board in operative position and demounting it when desired, all of which are simple and easy to operate and durable in use.

Still another object of the diving board extender of this invention is to provide a novel structure which includes many safety factors such as, absence of sharp edges, jagged corners, or protuding parts.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide extra spring power to a diving board by the addition of the flexibility of the extender board to that of the regular diving board.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings whereing like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the auxiliary diving board of this invention shown mounted in operative position over a conventional swimming pool diving board, which is illustrated fixed to the edge of the pool;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the auxiliary diving board of this invention, taken along line 2-2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, shown mounted in operative position over the conventional pool diving board;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating a grooved portion of the side edge of the auxiliary board.

Referring now in detail to the drawings 10 designates in general the auxiliary diving board of this invention.

3,517,929 Patented June 30, 1970 11 indicates the conventional swimming pool diving board, the inner end 12 of which is attached by any suitable well known means to the top side 14 of the swimming pool, which may be of concrete. The diving board 11 shown and described herein for the purpose of illustrating this invention may be any conventional standard diving board. A fulcrum member 16 is disposed crosswise underneath the diving board 11, between the inner end 12 of the board and the edge 17 of the pool top side.

Auxiliary diving board 10 is operatively assembled in a horizontal plane above the main or conventional board 11, as shown in the drawings. Suitable cross wise grooves 18 and 19 are provided which extend at right angles to the length of the board across the under side of the upper auxiliary board 10 and are adapted to receive fixed front and rear cross support mounting brackets, 20 and 21 respectively, as shown, and they may be arranged to wrap around the side edges of the auxiliary board 10 utilizing the side edge extensions of grooves 18 and 19, one of which is shown in FIG. 3. The mounting brackets 20 and 21 may be of metal or any other suitable material. Rear cross support mounting bracket 21 is for the purpose of carrying side pivotal support members 22 and 23 forwardly of the rear end 29 of the auxiliary board 10 and the front mounting bracket 20 is for carrying side pivotal support members 24 and 25 rearwardly of the forward end 33 of said auxiliary board 10 as shown in FIG. 1. The rear pivotal support members 22 and 23 are attached at their upper ends to journal pins 27 and 28 extending outwardly from the vertical side edges of the bracket 21. The front supporting members 24 and 25 are similarly attached to journal pins 31 and 32 carried by the front mounting bracket 20.

The components by which the auxiliary diving board 10 is attached to and above the lower or conventional diving board 11, as shown in the drawings, include lower journal pins 34 and 35 or other fastening devices of similar nature protruding from the opposite side edges of the lower front cross support mounting bracket 36 to connect the front pivotal support side members 24 and 25 to the lower conventional board 11.

A similarly formed rearwardly disposed crosswise mount bracket 38 fixed to the conventional diving board 11, as shown, has outwardly protruding journal pins 39 and 40 to attach the rear pivotal support members 22 and 23, at their lower ends respectively to the rear portion of the conventional board 11.

It will be noted in the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 that the cross-support mounting brackets 20 and 21 of the auxiliary board 10 are fixed in crosswise extending grooves 18 and 19 which are formed in the under surface of the extender board 10, as shown, to provide a clean top surface.

The front crosswise mounting bracket 36, and the rear crosswise mounting bracket 38 are fastened in position across the top surface of the main or conventional diving board 11 to which the auxiliary diving board 10 is mounted, as shown, and for obvious reasons no grooves are necessary.

Both front and rear crosswise mounting brackets 36 and 38 preferably include wrap around portions 41 and 42, hinged as at 43 and 44 to the main body portion of each bracket. The hinged portions are adapted to be folded around the side vertical edges of the conventional diving board 11 and to extend inwardly across the bot-' tom surface of said board a relatively short distance from the edges. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mounting brackets 36 and 38 are preferably lined with rubber 45 to prevent marring the conventional diving board.

Each of the inwardly turned portions of the hinged wrap around portions 41 and 42 are provided with a suitable catch means such as the inwardly inclined apertures 46 and 47 to be engaged by the hooked ends 48 and 49 of a pair of oppositely screw threaded rods 50 and 51 which are operably engaged by a turnbuckle 52.

It is, therefore, readily apparent that the auxiliary diving board can be easily mounted to a conventional diving board by placing the mounting brackets 36 and 38 in place on the conventional board, folding the hinged wrap around portions 41 and 42 into the position illustrated in FIG. 2 and applying the turnbuckle assembly. The two pairs of pivotal support members 22, 23 and 24, 25 are then attached to the brackets 36 and 38 as previously described.

Adjusting means to vary the height and amount of forward extension of the auxiliary diving board relative to the conventional diving board 11 is provided by a pair of elongated lock bars 54 and 55. Each lock bar 54 and 55 is provided with an appropriate hole at one end thereof to be pivotally engaged by one of the pins 31 or 32 carried by the bracket and extends generally diagonally downwardly and rearwardly and include a plurality of linearly spaced holes 56 extending inwardly from its opposite end to be selectively engaged by the journal pins 39 and 40.

Therefore it is obvious that the auxiliary board 10 is pivotal relative to the conventional board 11 with the top surfaces of the two boards always being in substantially parallel horizontal planes because the lengths of pivotal support members 22, 23 and 24, 25 are all equal. When the hole 56 closest to the lower rearward end of each lock bar 54 and 55 is operably locked on the journal pins 39 and 40, the auxiliary diving board 10 is in a position of least height relative to the conventional board 11, and of greatest outward projection over the pool. When the hole 56 furthest removed from the end of each lock bar is so engaged, the auxiliary diving board 10 is in a position of greatest height relative to the conventional board 11 and of least projection over the pool.

It is also to be noted that the mounting brackets 36 and 38 may have only one wrap around portion 41 or 42 hinged to the main body portion thereof and the other wrap around portions rigid therewith. In this event, the brackets are mounted to the conventional board by folding the hinged portion on one side thereof, upwardly and by sliding the brackets sidewisely over the board until one side edge of the board is engaged in the fixed wrap around portion. The hinged portion is then pivoted downwardly around the other side of the board and the turn buckle assembly applied in the same manner as previously described.

While there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the true scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, an auxiliary diving board and a conventional diving board in which each of said boards has a top planar surface, means positioning said auxiliary diving board above said conventional diving board with the longitudinal center line of each of said boards sub stantially in a common vertical plane, pivotal support means interconnecting said auxiliary and conventional diving boards to provide swinging movement of said auxiliary board relative to said conventional board whereby the top planar surfaces of both of said diving boards are maintained substantially in paralleled horizontal planes throughout the range of swinging movement of said auxiliary board, adjustable lock means interconnecting said 4 auxiliary and conventional boards to selectively lock said auxiliary board in any of a plurality of positions within the range of arcuate movement of said auxiliary board.

2. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 1 in which said means for positioning includes a first pair of spaced mounting brackets fixed to and transversely spanning said auxiliary board intermediate the front and rear ends thereof; a second pair of correspondingly spaced mounting brackets fixed to and transversely spanning said conventional board intermediate the front edge and the fulcrum point thereof, each of said first and second pairs of brackets including journal pins projecting horizontally outwardly from each side thereof beyond the longitudinal edges of both of said diving boards; said pivotal support means comprising front and rear pairs of equal length paralleled link members, said pairs of link members extending between respective sides of the front and rear mounting brackets of said first and second pairs of brackets and having their end portions respectively journaled thereto on said journal pins.

3. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 2 in which said adjustable lock means comprises a pair of elongate bars to diagonally span respective sides of said auxiliary and conventional boards and having their outer upper ends respectively engaging said journal pins extending horizontally from each side of the front of the first pair of mounting brackets and having a plurality of aligned holes adjacent their opposite ends to be selectively engaged by said journal pins on the back mounting bracket of said second pair of brackets.

4. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 2 in which each of said first pair of transverse mounting brackets includes a wrap around portion at each end thereof and which portion is imbedded in said auxiliary diving board so that all exposed planar surfaces thereof are coplanar with the corresponding planar surfaces of said auxiliary board.

5. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 2 in which each of said second pair of transverse mounting brackets includes a main body portion extending across the width of the top planar surface of said conventional diving board and a wrap around portion at each end thereof extending, first, vertically downwardly across each longitudinal side edge thereof respectively, and then laterally inwardly across the bottom surface thereof and terminating substantially short of an abutting relationship.

6. An auxiliary diving board as in claim '5 in which both of said end wrap around portions are pivotally hinged to respective ends of the main body portion thereof and including removable locking and adjusting means in spanning engagement with said wrap around portions.

7. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 6 in which said removable locking and adjusting means comprises a turn buckle assembly providing hook means at each of its outer distal ends and inwardly inclined apertures in each of said hinged wrap around portions for respective reception of said hook means.

8. An auxiliary diving board as in claim 2 in which all of the inner surfaces of said second pair of mounting brackets which come into contact with said conventional diving board are lined with a soft resilient material to protect the surface thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,693,669 12/1928 Rohmer 272-66 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner R. W. DIAZ, Assistant Examiner 

